Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Nominees and Judges for British Comic Awards announced

The awards areintended as the definitive guide to what the very best in UK comics, focusing on great British comic work in five categories: Best Comic, Best Book, Emerging Talent, Hall Of Fame, and Young People’s Comic Award.

Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke PearsonPublished by Nobrow Press, November 2011

The Lost Boy by Kate BrownPublished in The Phoenix by David Fickling Books, January 7th – 1st September 2012

The judges this year are as follows:

Hunt Emerson - Master cartoonist, named as one of the 75 Masters of European Comics by the Centre Nationale de la Bande Dessinee et de l’Image, the noted French comics Academy in 2000. His latest publications are a 200-page digital anthology, “The Certified Hunt Emerson” published for iPad by Panel Nine, and his hilarious comic book version of Dante’s Inferno, from Knockabout.

John Freeman - editor of ROK Comics digital audio comics, webmaster for the Down The Tubes, editor for the launch issues of STRIP Magazine. Previous roles include directorship of the Lancaster Literature Festival, Managing Editor at Titan Magazines, Group Editor at Marvel Comics UK.

Dr. Mel Gibson - academic based at Northumbria University, trainer helping libraries and schools develop collections of graphic novels, comics and manga. She is a National Teaching Fellow and has used that award to sponsor and develop academic events and networks relating to the study of the medium.

• The winners of the first British Comic Awards, along with The entrant to the final category, the Hall of Fame award, will be announced at Leeds Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival on Saturday 17th November 2012. More info: http://britishcomicawards.com

The site downthetubes.net, which began publishing in 1999, is edited by John Freeman whose credits include editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, Star Wars Magazine, and Marvel UK titles such as Overkill, Death's Head II, Warheads and others. He's currently editor of the upcoming Strip Magazine for Print Media Productions.

About the Writers:

• Matthew Badham has written features for Judge Dredd: The Megazine, the Forbidden Planet International blog and more

• Jeremy Briggs contributes news, reviews, interviews and historical articles on British comics. He is a guest writer on Steve Holland's UK comics history blog, Bear Alley, and has written for Comics International, TV Zone, Spaceship Away and Omnivistascope.

• David Hailwood has written comic strips for various publications, including TOXIC, Accent UK, Bulletproof and Futurequake. He also writes comedy material for TV, and regularly contributes to the Temple APA (a showcase for UK comic writers and artists).

• Andy Luke is a writer who draws: he's s created the eponymous Andy Luke's Comic Book, Gran, Absence: a comic about epilepsy, Hold the Phones, It's Alex Jones, and graphic novel, The Watch Thief. He's written about comics too, mainly for Bugpowder.com, and has been involved with the Caption comics festival in Oxford. He currently lives in Belfast with a large box of pasta and a 7ft tall cigarette, and can be found online at http://andy-luke.com and http://awriterwhodraws.com

• Ian Wheeler is a freelance writer who also edited the highly-acclaimed British comics fanzine Eagle Flies Again.